It will be a make-or-break summer at Old Trafford with the contenders for the coaching job representing two current predominant schools of thought If at the beginning of last week Ralf Rangnick held a flicker of hope he would be Manchester United manager next season, then defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League second round has surely extinguished it. Man Utd enter the international break on a run of one win in five matches in all competitions and closer to West Ham in seventh than Arsenal in fourth. They are also on track to win 66 points, which, strangely enough, would be the fourth time they’ve hit that total…

The Manchester United superstar is away on international duty as his country prepares to take part in the play-offs for Qatar 2022 Cristiano Ronaldo has vowed to “fight” for Portugal’s right to grace the 2022 World Cup, with the Manchester United superstar determined to figure at what could be his last major global showpiece. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is now 37 years of age and, despite stating on a regular basis that he into his 40s, is . He has graced four World Cup tournaments in the past, while savouring European Championship glory in 2016, and intends to reach a fifth as on Thursday. What has been said? Victory…

The striker tells GOAL about her return from an ACL injury, battling with Lea Schuller to start and why the Frauen-Bundesliga champions are so good Jovana Damnjanovic wasn’t on the pitch when Bayern Munich were last in the knockout rounds of the Women’s Champions League, but she remembers it well. It was last season’s semi-finals and the German giants travelled to London with a 2-1 advantage over Chelsea from the first leg. At full-time, that had evaporated. . Damnjanovic was nine months into her ACL recovery at that point and while her rehab would be setback-free, it was these moments that were difficult for the Bayern striker. “I think the…

The former Chelsea and Juventus midfielder also stressed the importance of winning both their upcoming friendly games France head coach Didier Deschamps has insisted that their upcoming friendly matches against South Africa and Ivory Coast have value. The world champions are set to take on Ivory Coast’s Elephants at Stade Orange Velodrome in Marseille on Friday, before facing Bafana Bafana at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille next week Tuesday. Nicknamed Le Bleus, France have included high profile players such as Hugo Lloris, Raphael Varane, N’Golo Kante, Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappe in their squad for the two games. There have been critics who have slammed the two matches against the African sides, suggesting that…

The Bafana Bafana striker is set to miss forthcoming international friendlies owing to an injury sustained in recent club engagement South Africa head coach Hugo Broos believes a six-month break would help Percy Tau fully recover from his consistent injury problems. His latest setback was in Al Ahly’s recent Caf Champions League assignment away to Al Merrikh, where his team won 3-1 with the 27-year-old scoring the first goal. Taher Mohamed replaced Tau in the second half. The forward has been experiencing muscle injuries while representing club and country, and Broos has suggested a solution for him. “It is a problem, what I said, Percy is already eight months injured,…

The Reds moved quickly to land the Colombian forward during the winter window and have seen him make an immediate impact at Anfield Jurgen Klopp admits that Luis Diaz is producing “miracles” at Liverpool, with the Reds seeing during the January transfer window deliver immediate returns. Those at Anfield acted quickly over the winter once it became apparent that a player they had been monitoring for some time. A big-money offer was presented to Porto and the Colombian forward was added to star-studded ranks on Merseyside alongside Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota – and the talented 25-year-old has not looked out of place. What has been…

The Parc des Princes outfit are unmatched in France when it comes to squad investment, particularly after a busy transfer window last summer Neymar and Lionel Messi are leading the way in the top 10 list of highest Ligue 1 earners, which is populated entirely by Paris Saint-Germain players. PSG have been one of the richest clubs in world football since Qatar Sports Investments’ successful takeover at Parc des Princes in 2011. Marquee signings have become a regular occurrence over the past decade and, after the additions of several more household names last summer, including Messi, reports that the squad is now worth a total of €629 million (£525m/$692m). PSG…

The Argentine has been in charge at Parc des Princes since January 2021, but could find himself out of work in the not too distant future Mauricio Pochettino is facing serious questions of his future at Paris Saint-Germain after despite having the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe at his disposal. With European glory eluding the Ligue 1 heavyweights once again, there has been plenty of talk to suggest that another change in the dugout will be made this summer. Pochettino is already being linked with prominent posts elsewhere, with of the former Tottenham coach, but parting with the Argentine will be an expensive business for PSG. How…

A man who worked closely with the Portuguese during his first spell at Old Trafford details the work that was undertaken Former Manchester United power development trainer Mick Clegg has offered an insight into Cristiano Ronaldo’s work on his physique and relentless march towards perfection in his younger years at the club. Ronaldo initially arrived at Old Trafford from Sporting CP for £12 million in 2003 at the age of 18 and, over the next six years, he managed to make an indelible mark on English football. The Portuguese scored over 100 goals for United while winning three Premier League titles and the Champions League, before departing for Real Madrid.…

GOAL analyses teams on the continent that have made it to the global scene numerous times and those that are struggling to qualify Ten African countries will be battling for their reserved five places in the 2022 Fifa World Cup to be played in Qatar from November 21 to December 18. On Friday, March 25, the Democratic Republic of Congo will host Morocco as Cameroon entertain the former Africa Cup of Nations champions Algeria. Tunisia will be away to Mali as the newly crowned Afcon Champions Senegal make a trip to Egypt. Another mouth-watering clash will be between Nigeria who will be away in Ghana. The second leg of these…